
26
SAttl3ATII-SOIEWOL LESSON QUARTERLY
Notes.
1.
Abraham asked for a sign by which he might know that
he would inherit the land. God told him to prepare a sacrifice,
which he did, cutting the sacrifice in two and separating the
parts. Then the sign was given in the smoking furnace and the
lamp of fire passing between the pieces,—" symbols of the divine
presence," confirming the covenant with Abraham See "Patri-
archs ad Prophets," page 137. These two symbols represent the
two manifestations of God's power in carrying out the promises
in the new or Abrahamic covenant. First, the "burning lamp,"
representing the work of the Holy Spirit in searching out sin, in
purifying and refining the hearts of men, and thus developing
the true seed who are heirs of the promise. Secondly, " the smo-
king furnace," representing the power of God in the destruction
of sin and sinners, and the cleansing of the earth, thus pre-
paring the possession for the seed.
A little later God gave Abraham a practical illustration of
the one sign when he beheld the destruction of Sodom, etc.,
and saw the smoke ascend "as the smoke of a great furnace"
which destruction was ever to stand before the world as a type
of the destruction of the wicked; but notice that the righteous
were first saved out of it.
2.
The same day that God made a covenant with Abraham
for the future possession of the whole earth, He also made a
covenant with him that his seed should possess the land of
Canaan, and this was literally fulfilled under the reigns of David
and Solomon when the dominions of Israel were co-extensive with
the description given in Gen. 15:18-21, and extended from the
river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. Thus this ex-
perience .of the natural seed became an imperfect illustration
(imperfect because of the sins of the natural seed) of the future
possession of the whole earth by the spiritual seed. Thus the
children of Israel did not take possession of the land of Canaan
under the covenant made with them at Mount Sinai,
as some
suppose; but under this provision of the covenant with Abraham
concerning the natural seed. This, God fulfilled by giving them
possession of all the land He had promised, and separating them
from all the other nations of earth, and continuing these con-
ditions in spite of their sins, until the promised Messiah appeared.
Then this special phase passed away, and that people was no
longer the separate chosen people of God; and with this phase
ceased all those types, symbols, ordinances, and ceremonies which
in any way prefigure the first advent of Jesus.
"The Advent message to the world in this generation"—our
watchword.